Mariposa Island
Brief Overview Mariposa Island is located off the coast of Southern California and boasts a bustling economy and a diverse collection of peoples and cultures. Its architecture and culture displays a significant Japanese influence, much more than mainstream America. It is home to the corporate headquarters of Next Heavy Industries. Mariposa Island History Colonized first by the Spanish in their establishment of California, Mariposa (Butterfly) Island has a rich history. Due to its mountainous terrain, only the coastline of the island was used for farming. During its early history, ranches occupied much of the interior land. Mariposa features a substantial natural deep-water port, unusual for an island of its size. This fact made it an important stop for shipping on the Pacific Ocean during the Age of Colonization, and in addition to the Spanish majority, there arose substantial English, Dutch, and Portugese neighborhoods in many of the island's cities. Following the Mexican War for Independence, California as a whole was ceded to the newly-formed country of Mexico. However, Mariposa Island, under international pressure from the trading powers, remained under Spanish control. As industrialization progressed, the island was discovered to have significant high-quality coal reserves, making it an important refueling station for steamships on their way to the Far East. The Spanish-American War resulted in the American occupation of most of Spain's remaining Pacific possessions, and Mariposa Island was one of them. However, the territory was treated more with benign neglect than with any active attempt at integration. This created favorable conditions for significant Japanese immigration at the beginning of the 20th century. Whereas there were significant restrictions on immigration to Hawai'i and mainland America, there were none such restrictions on moving to Mariposa, and so the Japanese came in thousands seeking a new life on the island, to such a degree that they outnumbered all the previous nationalities on the island. Where there had been previously disparate cities, the new immigrants built new neighborhoods until almost the entire coastline of the island was a single large settlement, using their native styles of architecture. It's now a matter of historical significance if a building dating to the Spanish colonization period or international trade period is discovered. In World War II, due to its large Japanese population, the island was placed under firm military control, and after the resolution of the conflict, the island was brought up to a status equal to that of Puerto Rico. The immigrant population did a remarkable job of bridging American and Japanese culture, producing a fascinating mix of the two. Most institutions on the island derive their essence from the Japanese style of doing things, such as the school system, but English is both the de jure and de facto language on the island, widely spoken with no recognizable accent holdover. There are many Japanese loanwords, and Japanese is commonly spoken alongside English as a second language. Postwar, as American trade with Japan increased, the bicultural island greatly benefited from its location at both the physical and cultural midpoint of the two countries. Funding poured in, and the coastal settlement grew into a large megacity, not the tallest but extremely wide. Most of modern Mariposa was established in this period of great prosperity. Mariposa Today The trade boom has worn off, but its effects still linger. Many worldwide companies have their headquarters in Mariposa, the biggest one being Next Heavy Industries. The inland mountain regions remain forested, and have been established as a nature preserve. The mixture of American and Japanese cultures, combined with the prospects of financial opportunity, has drawn Japanophiles and cultural analysts from all over, many of them settling and strengthening the non-Japanese ethnic minorities on the island. Today the split is about 50-50, but the culture is still heavily Japan-inspired. The island's deep-water port is extremely busy, serving ships from all over the world. Mariposa possesses two airports, one for international flight and another for recreation. The technology and general services industries are the island's largest, and the fishing industry is sizeable as well. The island's semi-extraterritoriality has drawn somewhat dubious researchers to its banks to establish laboratories, but they tend to produce results, and so the government allows them to exist.Category:Locations Category:Mariposa Island Locations